3.14.2011

This is the Imperial Yarn top I purchased the other day. It is such a pleasure to spin. I'm chain plying on the fly again. I love having a finished yarn at the end of the day and seeing the what the final product is going to look like. I take one handful of top and spin it counter clockwise, winding the single down the spindle till I run out of wool. Then I wind the single onto my hand and chain ply in the z direction.

Also, I made it to Powell's Book Store, the famous new and used bookstore in the Pearl District of Portland, OR. This made a big dent in my wallet, but a huge contribution to my reference pool.

For starters I picked up Big Book of Knitting by Katharina Buss for $9.98. It is a decent reference book that I think will come in very handy when I'm designing my own sweaters. Lots of instructions for knitted garment details like pockets, facings, buttons, zippers and collars.

I grabbed Spinning for Softness and Speed by Paula Simmons to try and help me with my lofty yarn desires. But it is entirely for wheels so I probably won't be able to put any of it's techniques to work for a while.